Community prays for Bruce Conley

Day-long vigil supports Kaneland community servantby Martha Quetsch
KANEVILLEâ€”Friends of Bruce Conley prayed for him Wednesday at Kaneville United Methodist Church during a day-long vigil ending with a service attended by nearly 100 people. It was a day of finding healing through faith, songs, stories and community, Pastor Jason Turner said.

The vigil ended with an evening service for Conley, of Elburn, who is receiving intensive chemotherapy treatment this week for a rare, inoperable form of cancer, malignant cholangiocarcinoma, he was diagnosed with in January.

â€œNow is the time,â€ Turner said. â€œWe want Bruce to sense the overwhelming care from the community,â€ Turner said.

Conley, director of Conley Funeral Home in Elburn, founded Conley Outreach Community Services and a community care team which have provided mental health services including grief counseling for countless people over the years.

In a prayer circle at the close of the evening service, many people spoke about how Bruce has touched their lives and helped them through the most difficult times of grief and loss through his faith, caring, compassion and warmth.

As recently as Nov. 15, Conley conducted a support group to help grieving people cope during the holidays. The next day, he visited his doctor because of nausea and learned that he needed the immediate chemotherapy for the cancer.

That day, Conley wrote in his online journal on the Conley Outreach Community Services website,www.conleyoutreach.org: â€œMay you, our dear friends and partners in prayer, know too that God is with all of usâ€”and in Him; we are one, now and forever. Thanks for staying beside us; for your thoughts and prayers and amazing support.â€

Bruceâ€™s journey
To help the community keep up to date with Bruce Conleyâ€™s ongoing journey, he has set up an account through CaringBridge with his personal journal, photos and other information. Community members can access his online journal through the Conley Outreach website, www.conleyoutreach.org, or directly to his CaringBridge account at www.caringbridge.org/visit/bruceconley.